Disclaimer: Still not mine!
Part 3
"This sucks!" She yelled as they raced to the truck, the rain pouring down on them in buckets. Cain said nothing, his hand on her back as they ran. Five minutes later and they had simply given up on running. There was no way to get any wetter really. Somehow the water had even gotten under all the seams of her rain jacket. She was as soaked as if she had been dunked in a lake. She shoved her wet hair out of her eyes, disgruntled. There was really nothing worse to her than wet socks, especially freezing wet socks, because this rain was not a nice summer shower. Oh no, it was a cold spring downpour. "I can see I should have brought a bathing suit instead of boots. I blame you for this oversight, you told me we were going to an orchard."
"I'm not takin' credit for the rain." He commented, the brim of his hat having folded in a few places and water running off it in small waterfalls.
"I was blaming you for my lack of appropriate dress, not the rain."
He rolled his eyes as the truck came into view. "Uh huh."
She sighed as they trudged through the mud, and when they got to the truck she slid out of her soaked boots and tried to get rid of some of the water before simply giving up and getting in the back of the truck. Cain wasn't far behind and she grimaced as water went everywhere, soaking the bed of the once dry haven. She piled the bedding and packs up on a crate quickly before they got soaked and then stood there dripping. There was no way they could sleep in here unless they worked out a way to dry it off. "This is problematic."
"We can sleep in the cab." He said. "The seats push down to make a bed. It'll be tight, but it'll be dry."
"Okay." She sighed, at least thankful he had agreed to go to the pond this morning before they stared work. It hadn't really taken much persuasion; just one big eyed sleepy inquiry if they could do that first. She woke up and simply couldn't stand being dirty anymore. Then she pointed out their clothes and bedding would need time to dry before they went to sleep and he gave in completely. "Do you want to change first?"
"You go on ahead." He said, turning his back and looking out the back of the truck, although what he could see beyond the sheets of rain was a mystery. "I'll go get the cab set up. I need to move the seats from the sides. Might as well do it while I'm wet."
"Do you need help?" She asked.
"Nope." His boots impacted with the ground with a nice squishing noise as he sank a few inches into the mud. "It'll only take me a minute. No point in you gettin' wetter."
"Not really possible." She called as he vanished from sight. She grabbed her pack as he got to the front of the truck. She heard the sound of the door opening and then him moving things about as she pulled out her now clean and dry clothes. She changed quickly; hopping about the puddles they'd made to be sure her dry socks didn't get wet. Grabbing at towel she began to pat her hair dry as she opened the small door that connected the two halves of the truck. Ducking her head in she saw Cain folding the seats down into a flat bed and raised her eyebrow as the whole thing slid into place neatly. It was some pretty clever mechanics if you asked her opinion. "Well, this is interesting."
"Glad you approve." He said as he snapped the seats into place with swift efficiency. She could tell he had practiced this before they left. That was her tin man, always prepared. "Will you make it up while I change?"
"You bet, tin man." He shut the passenger side door, keeping the rain out, and turned away. She grabbed all the blankets and bedrolls while he came back around and was tossing them and the pillows up into the cab when he leapt back in. As he shook out of his coat she slid up front, noting that his cream colored shirt was now all but translucent. "Let me know when you're done." She said as she shut the door to give him privacy before he caught her sneaking a peek. She began to make them up a place and realized they would be all but snuggling tonight.
Secretly admitting to not minding that at all she finished up. Setting the pillows against the door and out of the way so they could eat with as much room as possible she smoothed out a blanket when a wrinkled began to bug her, although she suspected it had more to do with the cramped space she had shut herself in voluntarily. As she was fiddling with it the door opened up again, much to her relief, and a now dry Cain stuck his head in, leaving the door open. He took in the bedding without comment, no doubt doing his own math about it. She broke into his train of thought before he could justify sleeping on a puddle; because he would one hundred percent do that if he thought it would make her more comfortable. "I'm hungry."
He nodded and pulled back a little, now set on getting her stomach filled since they had skipped lunch today, making up for the time they lost getting clean. "Alright, what do you want tonight?"
"What do we have left?" She asked curiously. She was still dumbfounded by the precooked and preserved meals. Apparently it was normal to have magic protect your food for you. The cooks in the palace had made them any number of meals before packing them, and they had been eating very well since they'd been out here.
He opened a box and shifted through it. "Beef stew, eggs and sausage, some baked apples, roast chicken-"
She broke in before he could list everything off. "Eggs, please."
"You don't really have foods you only like at one time of day do you?" It had become apparent when they weren't at the palace and she was left to her own devices that she cooked or ate foods at random, depending on her mood more than the hour. Cain had found himself eating lunch for breakfast and breakfast for dinner more than once when it was her turn to cook or pick out plates for them. After the third time that happened out here he stopped trying to match their meals and began listing off options for her as he picked what he wanted. In some ways the man was a creature of habit and that appeared to leak into how he ate. Not that she minded, it was kind of fun to have him stare at her as if she were insane eating the way she ate.
"I blame my former work schedule." She said as he handed her the container and some silverware. She retreated into the cab and he followed her a moment later with his own food as well as a canteen they were no doubt going to share. She didn't mind, they'd been sharing pretty much everything for weeks now. He kicked his shoes back off in the back of the truck to keep all the water in there, then pulled his feet into the cab and leaned back against the wall. She shifted so he could stretch out more and he smiled at her as his legs stretched.
"Thanks, kid."
She opened her container. "Are you okay in here?" She asked seriously, her humor leaving.
"As long as that doors open." He said calmly. "You?"
"So far." She saw he had picked the stew and began to eat it quietly. She followed suite and was very happy to find she had a cheesy omelet on her hands. Cheese made everything better. Beyond pleased she ate happily, enjoying having a full stomach. Her eyes were locked on her plate as she ate and thought, so when she finished and glanced up she was surprised to have him watching her. She supposed there wasn't much else to watch. "What?"
He shook his head and went back to the last of his food. "Nothin'." He said calmly. "Just thinkin'."
She shrugged, figuring he deserved to have those without harassment on occasion, since he let her have hers. Despite herself she had fallen asleep last night even with her mind racing about. She had picked the ideas back up almost at once the next morning, and while they were washing out their clothes had finally decided that there was no way Cain would pull something like that on her. It simply didn't fit. If he wanted her he would tell her plain and simple. That had settled her enough for her to work, and she had managed to impress him again today with how many trees she healed. It wouldn't have surprised her if he had stopped her actually, but the rain had ended it for him before he had to say anything.
Leaning out of the cab and into the back she set her plate to the side and reached for the canteen. He said nothing as she drank and finished his own meal. She took his dish and set it out over hers as he thanked her. When she sat back he pointed to her middle. "How's your back?"
"It feels fine." She told him honestly right before a yawn escaped her. He eyed her and she knew what he was thinking. It was barely past nightfall now and she was already starting to wind down.
"You did too much today."
"Oh nonsense." She disagreed. "We passed the halfway mark before we got rained out." She was fairly pleased with herself and thought she had the right to be. "Two more weeks and we can go home."
"I'd rather spend three more weeks out here and have you healthy. There's no reason for you to wear yourself down, and you already told me you like bein' out here. What's the rush?"
"I didn't think you'd want to be out here longer." It wasn't fair to do that to him. She knew he had volunteered to guard her on this trip, and that was the best thing that could have happened in her opinion, but he did have a life outside of keeping her safe. A large part of that included his son, who wasn't here. "You haven't seen Jeb since we left."
"Jeb and I will be just fine with an extra week apart. I miss him whenever I'm away, but he's got his own life to keep him busy now. It's healthy we spend some time apart. I don't want him feelin' smothered."
"Please, Cain. Jeb loves you like crazy. He enjoys you smothering him."
Cain shook his head at that and tossed her pillow at her. "I'll keep that in mind the next time I feel like I'm botherin' him." She sent him a look that told him he was being ridiculous. "Let's go ahead and call it a night. You're about to fall asleep sittin' up. No more drainin' yourself."
"I'm not drained." She denied adamantly as she laid down, trying to make herself as small as possible to give the large man more room.
Cain nudged her hip as he settled beside her. "Stop that. There's no gettin' out of each other's way right now. There's no point in tryin' and messin' your back up again. And don't try lying about bein' drained. I can always tell when you're so close you're about to start gettin' disoriented. Your eyes change shades. I don't need you bangin' about between the trees."
"Banging about? Now I feel graceful." She relaxed, her back touching his side in the cramped space. "Sorry." She said at once.
"Nothin' for you to be sorry about." He said. "As I recall I'm the one responsible for the rain."
She smiled at that and knew he smiled too even though she couldn't see him. "That is true."
He patted her hip gently before moving his hand away. "You know your snorin' is goin' to echo in here."
"I don't snore!" She protested.
He laughed softly. "Only sometimes."
"Liar!" She said indignantly as she turned over to see him.
He was grinning. "How do you think I knew you weren't sleepin'?"
She jabbed at him. "Mean!"
Chuckling, he grabbed her hands as she went at his ribs and tried to block her as she began to retaliate. She laughed along with him and he tisked at her. "None of that."
"You've insulted me most horribly!" She said.
"Oh, I can see that." He said sarcastically. She laughed some more and tugged at her hands. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you done jabbin'?"
She pouted at him as he ended her fun. "Fine."
He let her go and she found the only place to put her arms right against his chest. He smiled. "You don't really snore." He said in way of a truce. "You do talk in your sleep sometimes though."
She looked at him with real interest. "What do I say?"
"Nothin' that makes much sense when I can understand it. You mentioned pie one day, and somethin' about a feetball."
She laughed. "Football."
"What's a football?"
"It's a sport. It's a lot like roner." There was a game here that was indeed a lot like football, but was really more of a modified version of rugby. It was a brutal game that was immensely popular. After seeing a match she would be the first to admit she was a fan. That had pleased the hell out of Cain and Jeb who had taken her with them to more than one game when they found out how much she liked it.
"Oh." He seemed happy to have learned something. "I'd probably like that."
"I have no doubt about that." She stretched out again and yawned for the second time in five minutes as she turned back over. "Goodnight, Cain."
"Goodnight, DG." He said right before he leaned over to turn the lantern off. The cab was plunged into darkness and she was surprised how easy it was to slip into sleep with the sound of his heartbeat in her ear. The next thing she knew she was terrified and someone was holding her down.
"No!"
Strong hands shook her. "DG!" Gasping, she was yanked roughly out of her nightmare and back into the cab. "DG? It's me! Wake up!" He said with more than a small hint of alarm.
She clutched at his shirt, how it got in her hands she didn't know, but she held on all the same. "Cain?"
"That's right, Darlin'." He relaxed his hold on her and then he was brushing her hair off her sweaty face. When he felt her trembling he made a crooning noise she hadn't thought him capable of producing and shifted so she was on her back and he was leaning over her. "It's okay."
"Oh." She said, as if that made anything better. She could still feel the terror that had been clutching at her as if she had only just escaped certain death. Snippets of memory hit her and she knew she had been back in the cave again. "I woke you up." She said, her voice cracking somewhere in the middle of the sentence.
"That's alright." He assured her, his eyes full of worry. His hand ran over her face reassuringly. "It's okay, kiddo."
"I'm sorry." She whispered, feeling awful for reasons she couldn't fully explain.
He caressed her face. "It's not your fault." That set her off. What he said was too close to the memory of her letting go of her sister. The cave amplified and twisted the words in a way he had never meant or intended, but she couldn't help but take it the wrong way at this very moment. He knew the moment it came out that he said the wrong thing, mostly because she started to cry silently. Tears ran down her cheeks as her body hitched and she kept all the sound firmly in. She had learned to do this a month into her stay here, so no one would hear her at night while she tried to deal with what had happened. Even so she was terribly embarrassed, ashamed to let him see this part of her when she had worked so damn hard to show him she was not a child, and tried to turn over to give herself some privacy. But Cain was never one to stand by idly while she was in distress. As she tried to gain what little escape she had in the cab he caught her and rolled her the opposite direction, into his chest.
She would have apologized again, for what he was seeing, but if she opened her mouth she knew damn well the only sound that would come out would be a horrible one, and she much preferred the sound of the rain hitting the truck to what might come out of her. Cain lowered himself so he was covering her and ran his hand over her back. "Oh no, Darlin'." He hugged her close. "Don't cry, DG." He kissed her head. "It was just a dream." She nodded into his chest, trying to stop. "Just a dream, Darlin', I promise."
She nodded again, but even so it took her a few minutes to stop. He didn't try to rush her, although she could tell easily enough that he was uncomfortable with her this upset, and simply held her and whispered to her. Eventually, she went limp and rubbed at her face with the back of her hand. Finally trusting herself she spoke, her voice strained. "Sorry."
"Shhhh." He kissed her head again. "It's okay." His hand began to lace through her hair. "Nothing's wrong. Calm down for me."
"I didn't mean to upset you." She said quietly, knowing she had.
"It's not you that upset me." He assured her. "You get that out of your head right now." She felt his lips on her head again. "I'm not good with tears, Darlin', I'm just not and never have been. That doesn't mean you need to hide them from me."
She didn't know what to say to that. "Upset." She admitted.
"I know." He soothed. "Give it a few minutes and then we'll see if you feel any better." He sat up slowly, keeping his hand on her so she didn't think he was abandoning her. "Let's get you something to drink."
He got the canteen and opened it as she sat up. She wiped at her face again, still mortified, and took the canteen as he rubbed her arm. She found she couldn't meet his eyes as she sipped at it, and when she was done closed it and set it aside. "Thanks."
He cupped her chin and made her look at him. "Don't be embarrassed."
"Too late for that." She said tiredly. He rubbed her cheek before finally loosing contact so he could turn the lamp on low. She wished he had left it dark so she could try to hide a little. Her sarcasm came out in defense at the exposure. "Yes, by all means, let's see the damage."
He sighed a little and turned back to her. "You go ahead and get that venom out of the way. I'm not goin' to get in a fight with you and we need to talk about this."
"Why don't we talk in the morning?" She asked with real exhaustion.
"Because you won't sleep if we don't get this out of the way." He ran his hand through his hair. "And where the hell did you learn to cry like that?"
"What?"
"You don't make any noise." This seemed to really bother him. "How long has that been goin' on?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, it matters." He said gently. "How long?"
She really had no interest in answering that question. "I'm going back to sleep, Cain."
She started to lay down and he grabbed her, sitting her back up. "No you don't. We aren't done."
"God, why do you have to be so infuriatingly invasive all the time?"
"Because you don't talk to me otherwise!" He snapped. "You don't talk to anyone! What else am I supposed to do when all you do is joke and tease, or turn the conversation away from yourself?"
"I don't want to talk about it! Then I have to think about it!"
He let out a sound of frustration. "You are so damn stubborn." He growled.
"And what? Your attitude doesn't resemble a mule?"
He pressed his lips together before leaning back against the cab, reaching forward, and snatching her up. She found herself pressed against his side with her legs crooked over both of his. He held onto her firmly and pressed his cheek against hers. She froze at the contact and he whispered into her ear. "No more fightin'." He rubbed his cheek against hers. "I don't want to fight you. I want to fight with you. You're makin' that awful hard for me to do."
"You don't need to worry about me all the time." She sighed, even as she appreciated that he did, and more deeply than he would ever know.
"Well I do." He pulled back a little so they were looking at one another. "What do you want me to say, Deeg?" His eyes were showing so much. "Tell me what you want me to say."
"I don't want you to say anything." She told him softly. Tilting her head up she kissed his cheek before letting her head fall to his shoulder. "Thank you for waking me up and not bolting when I started to cry."
He sighed as he held her against him before turning his head and kissing her forehead. "Are you okay, Darlin'? The truth now."
"Just embarrassed." She admitted reluctantly.
"There's no reason for that." He told her as he ran his hand over her back in gentle circles. He nuzzled his face against her hair. "Be easy."
"I hate to cry." She told him, and then tried to ease some of the tension. "But you're pretty good at cuddling, so I guess it equals out."
She felt his lips quirk up against her scalp. "You're goin' to burst into tears every other day now."
"Naw, I'll just go back to my attack hugs. Less draining really. My face doesn't get all splotchy and flushed either."
"I see, you've got to maintain appearances while we're out here workin' in the pouring rain and mud."
"Obviously, Cain. I must be attractive at all times. They told me that the day after I was officially declared not dead at the capitol. You were there, I don't know how you missed it."
He ignored that attempt to lighten to mood. His hand moved up to her head and he tangled his fingers in her hair gently. "You're tryin' to distract me from what you're feelin' again."
That wasn't really what she was doing. "I'm trying to distract myself, Cain, not you." She sighed softly. "It's easier to deal with that way."
"Is that why you're pushin' so hard with the trees?"
"What?" She asked in surprise. "No, that needs to get done."
His fingers tickled her scalp as he put his forehead against her. "Somethin' else is goin' on there." He said coaxingly. "You always work hard but this is a whole different level."
Annoyed that she was caught in a scheme, even if he didn't know what that scheme was, she avoided it. "I'm just doing what we came out here to do."
He hummed in disbelief, but for once didn't push for the real answer. "Let's lay back down." He said softly, shifting them back down onto the blankets. She allowed that happily, really wanting to sleep and forget this ever happened. However, when they settled she had not expected to have him all but cradling her against him. This was far more intimate than was even remotely normal. Despite herself she sent him a baffled look, because even as her body agreed happily with this her mind was sent spinning in confusion. Reaching up he tucked her hair behind her ear gently. He didn't answer her silent question. All he did was touch her gently, putting her no doubt sleep rumpled hair in order.
This wasn't like him at all, to seek out affection first. It was always her that started it, always. At least that was how it had been since they got out here. The little touches up until last night had passed by her without notice, because she thought very little about small touches. To her hugs were normal and accepted, so what did a brief touch at the small of her back to direct her mean? Then he had cuddled with her to help her sleep, and given her a back rub. Her paranoia rose back up as all her rationalizing was tossed handily out the window at another new behavior from him. Feeling unarmed by this closeness and affection she let her mouth start ahead of her brain again as a whole new realization dropped onto the one she had come to the night before. "You planned all of this."
To his credit he didn't break eye contact and he didn't lie. "I can take about as much credit for your dreams as I can for the rain." His fingers continued to stroke through her hair.
She wasn't about to be dissuaded by him stepped to the side of the issue. "It's the middle of spring. Of course you knew it would rain." She was both shocked near to senseless and filled with respect at how well he had played her. "You knew it was only a matter of time before we were stuck together in this truck."
"Always the clever one." He said. "I thought you'd give me another week or two to work with." He watched her. "You forced my hand a bit between the dreams and this new work obsession, or was that last part on purpose?"
"It might have been on purpose." She whispered. He raised an eyebrow and she elaborated, figuring if they were both confessing it was a little easier. "You're hard to impress, Cain."
She saw the shock in his face. "All you do is impress me, DG." He caressed her cheek. "You don't need to run yourself into the ground to prove anything." That made her feel better than she could really express. Maybe in the back of her mind she had thought this was going to be a constant challenge, keeping his attention. Knowing that she already had it was a relief. Then the rest of what he meant caught up to her and she completely lost all the poise and appropriate distance she was trying to maintain. Leaning in the few inches separating them she kissed him before he could say anything else.
Author Note: Uh oh, this one got another chapter out of me. Part 4 will be up soon